How many times in life have we felt like we are being swept along a raging river… unable to stop or slow down the currents forcing us around unknown bends after bends… while hanging on for dear life… unable to decipher the present or future? We are just in survival mode.

Then one day we round a bend in the rushing river and everything calms down…we see an exquisite landscape and even perhaps…a magnificent waterfall before us. It is beautiful beyond words…to the point that uncertainty and fear (of this dramatic change in life) are swept away as fast as the current swept our lives into this unknown future. We are home again… deep down in our souls.

The title painting called “Around the Bend” was painted by Anne while she personally was going through uncertain challenges affecting her definition of home and security. (I read once that animals understand there is no such thing as “security” and live their lives in the moment…it is only we humans who try to hang onto it with everything we have…usually to no avail.)

What got me thinking about man’s take and trust in other humans’ stability and security is explained in the following poem… comparing rivers and homes.

“People Aren’t Homes”

Nikita Gill

Child, Why did no one

ever teach you that you

cannot turn people into homes?

People are rivers, ever changing

ever flowing. They will disappear

with everything you put inside of them.

Still, your home does have

a heartbeat. But it isn’t one

locked in anyone else’s chest.

Just look inside

your own.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

When I reflect back on my own life, I now recognize how easy it can be to live under the umbrella of another… until the day we realize that there are different bends in the river for each of us… which we must follow. And in our quest for home and security we must find our own heartbeat first…by looking inside ourselves and unlocking our own “happy places.”

So until tomorrow…”The river moves, but it follows a path. When it tires of one journey, it rubs through some rock to forge a new way. Hard work, but that’s its nature.” Kekla Magoon

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

A shout-out to Dana….Donna Clark’s daughter and my former student. Donna dropped me off a “hot-off-the press” National Championship Clemson t-shirt yesterday afternoon. Dana had sent them to all of us! Wow! That was fast! Thank you, thank you, thank you Dana, Donna, and Sam! What a memoir of a fun magical night for the ages! *I will model it Saturday for you in tribute to the Clemson parade!

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About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents
were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my
grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old
Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended
Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters
Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am
presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also
taught at the College of Charleston.
For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy
matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of
stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message
through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret
of success in teaching social studies is always in the story.
I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest
teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re
ripe you rot.”